Thursday evening hundreds protesters marched from the Likud headquarters to the Defence Minister's home in Tel Aviv denouncing any strike on Iran. Among them: MK Dov Khenin (Hadash), former MKs Tamar Gozansky (Hadash) and Mossi Raz (Meretz), and Tel-Aviv Councilman Yoav Goldring (Ir Lekulanu). Several Hadash and Communist Party of Israel activists carried red flags and red banners. "Enough of occupation (of Palestinian territories). No to an attack on Iran," chanted the protesters. Many protesters held up pictures of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak with the caption "arsonists".

After a short march, hundreds of Tel Aviv residents opposed to an attack on Iran gathered under Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Barak's home in Tel Aviv, on August 17, 2012 (Photo: Activestills)

Opponents of an Israeli attack said on Thursday that around 500 academics and retired military personnel had signed a petition calling on air force pilots to refuse to carry out a unilateral strike. "I understand the far-reaching implications of this petition," a statement quoted one of the signatories, Tel Aviv University law Professor Menachem Mautner, as saying. "The possibility of a decision to attack Iran has been keeping me awake for weeks." The statement warns that injury to Iranian civilians as a result of radioactive leakage from any of the targeted facilities could expose pilots to future war crimes charges. "We issue this appeal to you out of a deep sense of concern and anxiety," the petition tells the Israeli airmen. "Our fate, our very future lies very much in your hands." In recent weeks, the Israeli press has been flooded with reports citing anonymous top officials suggesting military action against Tehran's nuclear facilities is imminent.

A poll, meanwhile, indicated that 61 percent of Jewish Israelis opposed a raid on Iran. Te survey, published by the independent Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) think-tank, also said 57 percent of respondents believed talk of a pre-emptive strike is simply a tactic designed to pressure the Americans to take more resolute action against Iran.